Memory cards

As long as it lasts the next fifteen years I'll be content, after that well see you in the next life.

Fakes are not easy to spot ... The ones I referred to in an earlier post were almost perfect copies - the only give away was identical serial numbers.

"Lifetime guarantee" means lifetime of the product, so if a reasonable life expectancy of an item was 3 years, then that would be the warranty period.

The trouble is it's delightfully vague...

There used to be a site that showed photographs of the fakes. Part of the trouble is that the genuine ones are quite crudely made compared to the Japanese Toshibas. The main giveaway is the fakes aren't in a box with a hologram and don't perform well in benchmark tests and probably haven't got the free software.

There's a site that lists the fake serial numbers.

Hope it's not like Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee where there's supposed to be twenty times as much sold in the shops as is produced

shim

It is not possible to know the maximum write speed of a card from practical tests with the camera, because the camera does not write to the card purely and continuously.

You could find the maximum overall write speed of the camera by eventually using a card that works no more quickly than a slower card. I haven't reached that point yet because I don't have anything faster than the Sandisk "20MB/s" ones.

As to your problems, maybe you've just got faulty card(s) or some freak thing has happened. Obviously the vast majority of Sandisk users don't have such problems. I also bought mine from play.com, by the way.

WOW!!! Looks what's popping up from China on ebay!!!!

White Toshiba SDHC 4GB Ultra High Speed 20MB/s Write 20MB/s Read LINK

I used to hear the "Old Folks" talk about these Legendary Cards, but never actually saw one in the flesh

I'll be ordering a couple in the morning, probably off 2 dealers.

I've only got about 6 of the 1GB version.
Never saw the 4GB on sale before anywhere.

shim

Looks like just what you've been waiting for, which is great news.

I've seen them before, but the price hasn't been attractive if you get done for VAT + £8 handling charge as well.

Anyway, here's one with a lower price than that eBay seller:

http://www.dc-battery.co.uk/product_info.php/products_id/13695

Thanks Pete, Still a Hong Kong company though and I've a feeling it will be shipped from there. I might order the 8GB version from them, just under 22 quid delivered. Some might say 8GB's a bit risky, but I would think that there's a bigger risk of losing the 4GB card that you've taken out in a hurry to put a blank one in

There's no VAT payable on imports under £17 (might have been raised recently) that's why 7Dayshop and Picstop are so cheap. They operate from Jersey and most of their stuff is below £17 so no VAT. Tesco's also sell stuff like DVD's from Jersey to avoid VAT.

shim

Same here, as for speed I was recording the Bikewise Easter Egg run with over eight hundred motor cyclists. Shooting raw the card just about kept up with the action as the bikes were passing by, the buffer filled up three or four times.

John

Don't forget the £18 VAT limit includes postage, so the the 22 quid one could end up costing about 35 quid, depending on what the seller writes on the customs form.

For this reason I would order the 4GB ones, one at a time. (Actually I think Sandisk III cards are better VFM now, but I appreciate you're put off them for life now, Shim).

A seller on Amazon has these for £9.45 delivered (amazing price) link , unfortunately no 8GB just 4GB. Because I've an account set up with Amazon and it's delivered from the UK I've ordered one just to make sure that they are the real Kosher-McCoy.

Toshiba site describing their cards.

http://www.toshiba-memory.com/en/sd_cards.html

shim

I ordered one of those, but have today received a DIFFERENT card: "Integral Ultima PRO"

I don't know if it's worth trusting the merchant to refund if I return it. (It was not from Amazon direct). I would appreciate advice from regular Amazon users. Thanks.

...I've just noticed the Comment in the listing:

"Please note that there is an error in the listing on this item. The actual card sent out will be an Integral 4gb class 6 SDHC."

I won't be in a rush to use an Amazon merchant again. Bullshit merchant, more like. I bet the reason he did this was because of Amazon's set list of items. Sellers can't specify an item not on the list.

What a stupid rubbish system compared to eBay ...and people complain of eBay's fees

Same here Pete, received it today and unfortunately I'm going to have to waste time and money posting it back, I'll ask for a refund on the recorded delivery.

I'm getting sick to death of all these online retailers who think they can palm you off with anything. Just got a Pentax 55-300mm lens off SRS that has quite a large dust speck behind the front element. I don't know whether to send it back or not. I would never have accepted it from a shop shame my local shop Kamera were out of stock. I've just returned a mint(LOL)Pentax 80-320mm to an ebay seller because the plane of focus was at about 45 deg and the lens had a bad wobble.

shim


shim